Perfect for Fall: warm drinks, soft sweaters and my caramel apple spice cake! This cake is so simple to make and decorate but incredibly delicious.
A Few Notes
- You can save some time and skip browning the butter. You’ll still love the cake BUT definitely try that brown butter sometime!
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
Feel free to pour ALL the extra caramel on your piece.
Steps to Make This Cake
1.) Add 3/4 cup of butter to a pot and cook over medium low heat stirring occasionally until the milk solids in the butter caramelize and darken. Be careful of splatters! Once the butter has darkened transfer to a bowl and chill until almost solid. The brown butter will be slow to cool and thicken back up so make sure to do this step in advance.
2.) To make the caramel add brown sugar, cream, butter and salt to a small pot over medium-low heat and whisk until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Mix in the vanilla, transfer so a bowl and set aside to cool completely.
3.) Sift all the batter’s dry ingredients, including the sugar, in a large bowl. Whisk and set aside.
4.) Add all the batter’s wet ingredients into a medium bowl, whisk together.
5.) Peel, core and chop enough apples to have about 2 cups. Set aside and if desired squeeze the juice of half a lemon onto the apple pieces. It won’t matter if the apples brown while exposed to the air but I like the acid from the lemon juice for some contrast.
6.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix to combine using a spatula to fold the very thick mixture together.
7.) Add the apples in and fold to incorporate.
8.) Distribute the batter between 3 six inch pans and Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. I’ve made this recipe with 4 six inch pans and it works nicely.
9.) To make the buttercream add the room temp (partially solidified) brown butter you made in step 1 to a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add salt and half the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low for about a minute. Add the remaining sugar, and vanilla then mix on low. Drizzle in cream until desired consistency is reached. Transfer buttercream and caramel from step 2 to piping bags and snip the tips off.
10.) Pipe buttercream onto the first layer. Drizzle caramel, then add the second layer on top. Repeat the process.
11.) Smooth the side with a bench scraper and the top with an offset spatula.
12.) Add caramel to top and smooth with an offset spatula. The caramel will drip quite easily so don’t worry about adding too much to the side.
If you’ve tried this cake then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Apple Spice Cake
Moist apple cake with all the holiday spices mixed in. And of course there's a home made caramel drizzle.
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 360g
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon 4.6g
- 1/2 tsp ginger 0.9g
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1g
- 1/2 tsp allspice 1g
- 1 Pinch ground cloves
- 1 tsp vanilla 4.9mL
- 1 tsp baking soda 4.6g
- 1 tsp salt 6.3g
- 1/2 cup coconut oil 118.2mL melted
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil 59mL
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt 59mL
- 1.5 cups sugar 192g
- 3 large eggs
- 3 to 4 apples about 2 cups cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups) I prefer honey crisp but many varieties are great.
For the Buttercream:
- 1 pound confectioner's sugar 453.5g
- 3/4 cup room temperature Butter 170g
- 1/3 cup cream 79mL
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 14.7g
For the Caramel:
- 1 cup brown sugar 200g
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 71g
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half 118.2mL
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 14.7mL
- 1 Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Sift and whisk together the dry ingredients
- Mix together the wet ingredients until well combined in a large bowl or stand mixer
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined
- Fold in the apples
- Divide the mixture evenly into four 6" pans, which have been buttered and floured. (I always use cake strips too)
- Bake at 350F for approximately 40 minutes or until centers are done.
For the Buttercream:
Add 3/4 cup of butter to a pot and cook over medium low heat stirring occasionally until the milk solids in the butter caramelize and darken. Be careful of splatters! Once the butter has darkened transfer to a bowl and chill until almost solid. The brown butter will be slow to cool and thicken back up so make sure to do this step in advance.
Cream the butter in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
Add in the salt and powdered sugar gradually and beat together.
- Add vanilla and cream until desired consistency is achieved.
For the Caramel:
- Combine ingredients in small pot.
- Heat over medium-low heat while whisking
Cook for 7-8 minutes until thickened and transfer to a bowl to cool.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
IF YOU LIKED THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT
Brown Butter Pumpkin Sheet Cake
You have a perfectly preppy looking slice of cake in your beautiful pictures. The recipe sounds delicious and I will put on “to do” list. Thanks.
what a stunning Autumnal Cake with beautiful pictures
Yum! The perfect cake for fall 😀 I love a seasonal recipe!
Apple cakes are the best, aren’t they? I always bake with apples and I add cinnamon most of the time to my apple bakes. Love how you added more spices though, this cake looks very delicious.
So what is half and half? I live in Australia and it’s not something we have in our supermarkets!
LOL, it is 1/2 milk and 1/2 heavy cream 🙂
Can the oil be replaced with butter or something else?
Josephine,
Butter works as a replacement!
John
My daughter & I made this cake. It was very delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Tara,
I’m so happy that you liked it!
John
I loved this cake!!!
So glad you liked it!!!
I loved this cake!!! It has the PERFECT amount of spice and the caramel was just amazing!
This cake looks gorgeous. I am planning to make it in 3 9 inch pans, which you say to triple the recipe for. Do you also need to triple the buttercream and caramel
recipes, or would doubling those be enough?
Thanks
Can you substitute the coconut oil with something else? I am allergic to coconuts so can’t use coconut oil.
Hi Jenifer,
You can substitute coconut oil with vegetable oil. I hope you enjoy the cake!
Best,
John
For the browned butter the video you say in pound of butter but the recipe says 3/4 cup. That’s quite a difference isn’t it. What is the correct amount?
Hi Kathi,
Yes, it is! I used a pound of butter for a larger batch. You can use 3/4 of a cup. Sorry for the confusion!
Best,
John
Hi there. Love all your IG posts!! So, sorry for being one of THOSE people, but you have two grammatical errors in Step 5. Judging by all of your beautiful posts, you’re probably a perfectionist too! Hee hee. Can’t wait to try this!
Blessings,
Lisa
(Admirer of your Pumpkin Badassery) 😋
Thanks Lisa! I’m the WORST at copy. Just fixed it!
I’m in the process of making this right now- cakes are out of the oven and looking gorgeous! I used two 8 or 9 inch pans and baked for only 36 minutes as I wasn’t using cake strips so it didn’t take as long to bake. Caramel came out well, too, and I’ve vegan-ized everything as well so I’m very pleased.
My only complaint is the icing. In the recipe here it says to use 1 pound of icing sugar and 1/3 cup cream and so I followed that, but I wished I’d followed the video (little less than two pounds sugar, little bit of cream) or simply not used all of the cream, because the icing isn’t firm enough and I’m not sure it will spread very well on the cake (I’d put in more icing sugar to firm it up if I had any more, and I know that the recipe said “until desired consistency”).
So if you’re reading this DON’T PUT IN THE FULL 1/3 CUP OF CREAM.
Thanks! Should I add an extra note about the cream in the ingredients?
I also did not use all of the cream, just added until it looked right. This entire recipe is DELICIOUS!
Well done Erin! I’m so happy it was a success!!
I made this cake and it was so delish! I burned the butter and messed up the caramel so I threw that all away. I made regular vanilla buttercream instead and it was still great! I’ll try it again with the caramel and browned butter next time and try harder not to mess everything up.
Hi Anna,
Thanks for your feedback!
I’m happy the cake still tasted good, thats what matters most!! Also, practice always makes perfect.
Happy baking!
John
Delicious! And not difficult to bake (though I simplified the decorating to suit my skill level). I browned butter successfully – first time! And my husband and teenage son loved it. Definitely one for the regular rotation.
Hi Jodie,
Im so happy to hear the cake was a success, and that you had your first browned butter experience!! How exciting! What will you bake next with browned butter? 🙂
Best,
John
This cake was just amazing and beautiful too! I dressed up the top by slicing apples thin and baking at 200 for 2 hours. (I posted the pic of it on Pinterest)
Hi Kara,
What a great idea! That sound amazing and so creative!! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! What will you spruce up next?? :b
Best,
John
This cake turned out perfectly! It was my second cake I have made. It really impressed my friends and family.
Hey Nate,
That’s so good to hear! I’m happy you, your friends and family enjoyed it!! What will you bake next?
Best,
John
I just made it and ate a slice. I’ve never made browned butter before and I threw out the first batch because I mistakenly thought the crispy solids meant that I overdid it! Oops! Anyway, it turned out delicious. The only thing I had trouble with was that the buttercream squished out from between the layers. They were pretty heavy. I may do a thicker buttercream next time. I will be making it again for sure!! Thank you for sharing your scrumptious recipes with us 🙂
Hi Annie,
It’s funny how browned butter tricks you like that! It is one of my favorite things!
With the buttercream, there is typically a lot of scraping extra buttercream off and being delicate with the cake by not applying pressure to it. But of course you can make your buttercream a bit thicker if you please!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake!
Best,
John
I really loved this cake. I love all of the steps – as an amateur baker, it makes me feel excited to learn new skills like making caramel and browning butter. I also struggle with smoothing my buttercream so I opted for a more naked cake. I also learned my apple pieces were too big so not ever bite has apple. 🙁 Either way – I love your blog and Instagram! Your videos are always so enjoyable and I love your personality!
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks so much!
It’s so exciting learning new baking skills like browning butter! Practicing and getting it perfect is part of the fun I think. I’m so happy you enjoy preppy kitchen!
What will you bake next??
Best,
John
I made this cake over the weekend and took it to a gathering with friends and family. Everyone loved it! It was simple to make and looked beautiful!
Hi Taylor,
I love this cake! Taking it to a gathering was a great idea, i’m happy everyone loved it!! What will you bring to the next gathering?? 🙂
Best,
John
I made this cake for Canadian Thanksgiving and it was fantastic. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Hey Kristen,
Thanks for your feedback, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! That’s a good choice for Thanksgiving!
Best,
John
This sounds delicious! But does it make 3 six inch layers or 4 six inch layers. The video says 3 and the recipe says 4. Some of the pictures have 3 and some have 4: Please help!
Hi Eleanor,
You can make three thicker layers or four thinner layers! It is totally up to you!!
Best,
John
John,
Your Apple Spice Cake was amazing!! I was feeling down and baking is usually always therapeutic for me. I made your Apple Spice Cake and took it to my class the following day. Everyone loved it! But I just had one question, is there anyway I can make this into cupcakes? Would the baking time/temp change? Would the batter itself have to be changed?
Hi Aries,
That is very good to hear! I find baking to be very therapeutic as well but i’m so glad this apple spice cake was able to turn your day around!!
You could make these into cupcakes, I would bake them for about 15-20 minutes and keep an eye on them.
Best,
John
Second cake recipe of yours that I made for my office, and second amazing cake that my colleagues all died for! Autumn is my absolute favorite season, and this cake captures all the quintessential flavors and warmth I love in a good fall recipe. The recipe is extremely easy to follow and the results are divine. Thanks again!!
Hello Kristin,
I’m so happy to hear you made this cake and everyone loved it!! I hope that scored you some major points at the office! 😉
I 100% feel the same way about Autumn!! Its a season sent from bakers heaven!
What will you bake next??
Best,
John